NHL Daily Fantasy Hockey DFS Plays and Goalie Rankings – 3/25

If you’re a daily fantasy sports player you know there are few things more important than finding good value plays to compliment the higher priced guys. There’s usually no way you’ll finish in the money without a couple of low-salary guys producing above their price.

Each day I’ll bring you a rundown of some players you may want to use in your daily leagues. They will include a few top plays (high salaried players a notch below the obvious choices – Crosby, Ovechkin, Neal, etc.), some mid level plays, and a good amount of the most important ones – value plays (players most likely to outperform their salary).

While I’ll feature different DFS sites as a guide for salaries each day, you’ll find that most sites will have the individual players on a similar salary scale.

I’ll post my lineup for each site/day so you can get an idea of how I’m building my team(s).

I will also include overall goalie rankings for today’s games at the bottom of each post. The rankings are not based on salary, but just as an idea of how I feel each goalie will do compared to the other starters for the night.

Please note that with daily hockey there is constantly new information to consider. New line combos, late changes to starting goalies, healthy scratches, etc., are an everyday occurrence. Check back often for any updates.

Top Plays

C Evgeni Malkin – PIT ($14,570) – I wanted one of the Pens centers and with a salary almost $2,500 less than Crosby, it was easy to pick Malkin. He has four goals and six points to go along with 19 SOG over his last three games and the chances should continue tonight.

UPDATE: Malkin will miss 2-3 weeks with a foot injury. I have slotted Crosby in to the C slot and substituted his linemate Lee Stempniak for Carter at RW.

D Alex Pietrangelo – STL ($10,427) – Another case of paying a bit more for a defenseman on sites like DS that count blocked shots. Pietrangelo can also put up some points, and comes a bit cheaper than the top guys (Weber, Karlsson). Facing a team that gives up plenty of shots is a nice bonus.

Mid Level Plays

G Marc-Andre Fleury – PIT ($18,479) – I know that looks like a big number for a “mid-level” play, but he’s the 19th ranked goalie according to salary. There’s just too much value there to pass up as he’s cheaper than guys like Holtby, Gustavsson, Berra, and Bernier. He faces a Phoenix team playing their third game in four nights and coming off an OT game last night. Fleury hasn’t been great lately, but I’ll roll the dice on a bounce back game tonight.

RW Jeff Skinner – CAR ($9,456) – Good matchup tonight at home against the Islanders. While his salary has dropped lately due to a stretch where he has just one point (an assist in his last game) in his last five games, that’s where the value starts coming in. Skinner takes a ton of shots (3.91 per game) so the opportunity for points will come, while him getting you a few points on SOG alone is a nice bonus.

RW Jeff Carter – LAK ($9,173) – Like Skinner, Carter was on a sort of mini-slump which has caused his salary to slip. Like Skinner, he takes a ton of shots and should see his fair share of opportunities tonight against the Caps.

D Andrej Sekera – CAR ($9,071) – With the Flex spot it’s a good idea to go with some more potential here for points even if he doesn’t show up on the scoresheet. With the SOG and blocked shots he gives you, you can confidently put him in and still have a good shot at seeing a big points night with the potential to get on the scoresheet as he has in two consecutive games (three assists).

Value Plays

C Kyle Turris – OTT ($7,752) – Turris seems a bit undervalued and has a good matchup tonight. He’s another guy, like others I’m using tonight, that has seen his salary slip due to a recent mini-slump, but I’m hoping that matchups allow for some top play numbers with low-salaried guys.

LW Milan Michalek – OTT ($6,775) – Unlike some of the other plays, Michalek’s salary has increased slightly over the last few days – he has two goals and four points over his last four – but he’s still a nice value with the matchup he has tonight.

LW Alex Galchenyuk – MTL ($5,525) – When you include some higher salary players in your lineup you have to grab a player or two with some deep value and tonight, at least on DS, it’s Galchenyuk. Again, the matchup is nice, and he’s playing on a line with Gallagher and Plekanec. At his salary, there’s a decent chance he could outperform it tonight.

RW Lee Stempniak – PIT ($6,816) – Playing on a line with Crosby certainly helps and, with Malkin out, this line should be firing away.

D Andrei Markov – MTL ($8,619) – There’s not much not to like here with Markov: the matchup, the SOG, the blocked shots, the points, the PP time. He’s the cheapest of the three d-men I’m using tonight but I can see him outperforming the other two.

About Carlos Figueiredo

Carlos is the NHL Rankings and Content Editor for Dynasty Sports Empire.
He has been a hockey fan for as long as he can remember, and has been writing about hockey for over five years.
He is the owner / writer / editor for SpeakingoftheDevils.com and has also contributed work for various other hockey websites.
He has been playing fantasy sports since the days when you had to pull stats from USA Today the morning after games were played.

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